


Gunpoint

by MCUsic_to_my_ears



Series: Whumptober 2019 [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Robbery, Step-parents, Weddings, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019, tagging is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 12:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20907446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCUsic_to_my_ears/pseuds/MCUsic_to_my_ears
Summary: Michelle noticed Peter. And when others started too as well, she was helpless to stop them.***Whumptober 2019 Day 5: Gunpoint





	Gunpoint

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not as good at writing whump as I thought I was, I got way too into this universe.

Michelle had been watching Peter and, to a lesser extent, Ned, since seventh grade. She wouldn't call it a crush, because that was juvenile, but it was an... attraction. A squish was maybe more apt. She tried not to analyze it too much. Besides, Michelle wasn't one to put herself out there, especially not with frizzy hair and braces and two older brothers who would tease her senselessly if she were caught making friends with boys. So instead, she watched from across the classroom, across the hall, the lunchroom. Never too close. 

Maybe it was this perspective that made her the first to notice Peter's confusion at the beginning of ninth grade after a week long absence. He had a new watch, which he fiddled with incessantly, that was way above his family’s income. He didn’t pay attention in class anymore, even if he still got every question he was asked right. In fact, Michelle was so distracted by watching Peter that she started getting some wrong. 

Trying to resolve her curiosity, she started sitting closer to them at lunch. Same table and everything, so she could watch Peter and Ned as she pretended to read. 

A couple weeks after Peter had returned from wherever he had been, maybe in a fit of jealousy, though she would never admit it, she interrupted their pining over Liz. 

“We should probably stop staring before it gets creepy, thought,” Peter suggested to Ned. 

“Too late,” MJ announced. They turned to her. “You guys are losers,” she remarked, as if that explained her unprovoked interaction. 

“Then why do you sit with us?” Ned retorted. So they noticed. 

She decided for truth. “Because I don’t have any friends.” 

And that was that. The events leading up to homecoming had been… weird. Weirder than the rest of freshman year by all measures. Peter started cutting class. They went to Nationals for AcaDec, where Peter was constantly disappearing. Liz’s dad got arrested. MJ was promoted to head of AcaDec. 

“Uh, thank you.” She blinked a couple times. She had never considered herself a leader, but she would definitely give it a shot. “My friends call me MJ,” she added. 

Ned furrowed his brow. “I thought you didn’t have any friends.”

She allowed herself to smile slightly. “I didn’t.”

Across the table, Peter got a text and he cleared his throat. “I… I gotta go.”

“Hey, where are you going?” she interrupted. He froze. “What are you hiding, Peter?” His mouth opened but no words came out. Ned glanced between the pair anxiously. She took pity on him, lying, “I’m just kidding. I don’t care. Bye.” Peter slipped out and she returned her attention to the team. Her team. She smiled again at that. 

After running a few drills, they dispersed and she had a to-do list a mile long. She walked back to her locker to pick up a book that she had forgotten when she heard someone speaking. Michelle slowed down, listening. 

“No, sir. I didn’t ditch Mr. Hogan.” Peter’s voice. She had never heard him this frustrated, except maybe when Flash was jacking around. She made a mental note to put a stop to that with her new position. If she couldn't play favorites, then what was the point. “I’m sorry he lost me, it’s not my fault he can’t-” Peter was cut off by whoever he was on the phone with. “Fine. Practice is probably over anyway now, so feel free to come pick me up. I honestly don’t care.” Another response from the other end. “Great. Bye,” he bit out, hanging up the call angrily. He slammed his fist against a nearby locker before picking up his backpack and walking quickly towards where Michelle was standing. 

He slowed when he saw her, wiping his eyes furiously before continuing on at a faster pace. 

“Hey, is everything okay?” MJ asked, shocked out of her stillness. “Peter?” She caught up to him in a moment. 

“I’m fine Michelle. Thanks.”

She followed quickly. “It’s MJ,” she shook her head. “But that’s not important. What happened? Who was that?”

Peter grabbed his backpack straps, picking up speed. She grabbed his arm, stopping him. 

“Peter, come on.”

He looked her up and down for a second, taking an anxious step back. “Would be the biggest fuck you,” he mumbled. Michelle tried not to react at his word choice. She had never heard Peter curse before. 

He sighed. “My aunt met someone.”

Michelle blinked. “Okay.” 

“They fell in love or whatever, and now we live with this guy.”

She waited for him to continue. He glanced down at his watch, before covering it with his other hand. 

“My aunt’s engaged to Tony Stark,” Peter admitted quietly. 

“What?”

“It’s why I was gone for a week earlier this year. I know you noticed. I was getting kidnapping and ransom training. And why I’m never at practice. And kept getting pulled away in Washington. Suddenly everything’s a safety risk." He rolled his eyes. "Can’t go to the bathroom without someone asking me if I’ve checked my twenty or whatever. Not like anyone knows about my aunt or me. They haven’t announced it to the press.” Peter shook his head. “Kind of wish they would.”

“So the person on the phone?” Michelle asked, working through her shock slowly. 

“Tony Stark,” Peter agreed. “Pissed because I ditched my bodyguard again." 

MJ nodded, biting her lip. "Okay." 

"Okay?" Peter snorted. "You took the news a lot better than I did," he joked, finally letting go of his watch to readjust his backpack. They continued walking. 

Michelle shrugged. "I knew something was up. Ned knows?"

"Yeah. Wasn't supposed to but I'm a terrible liar."

"You were doing pretty well for a while there." 

Peter rolled his eyes. 

"Seriously, Parker," she retorted reaching out to push him playfully, but stopping herself, unsure where the movement bad come from. "Just, um. Let me know if you need anything," she supplied when they reached the front door of the school. Outside, a sleek black car was parked. A stout man leaned against the passenger's side door, pretending to scroll through his phone. 

"Thanks, Michelle."

"MJ," she corrected again. 

He nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Thanks, MJ." 

It got easier after that. She began to sit with Peter and Ned during lunch, book in her backpack. Ned was weary of the change at first, but he quickly grew to appreciate it, especially after Peter indicated that Michelle knew about Peter's soon-to-be stepdad. A week after that, they started hanging outside of school and Decathlon, taking the subway to Central Park or some ice cream shop. Twice to Ned's house, once to MJ's. Never to Peter's although she didn't blame him. 

On their second trip to Ned's, Peter took off his watch and shoved it under a pillow on Ned's bed. Michelle was confused, but since Ned didn't look concerned, she didn't say anything. 

Peter seemed more relaxed after that, pulling out his microbiology textbook while Ned started up Disney's  _ Atlantis _ , their third installment in the Dis-ducation series they began after it was discovered that MJ hadn't seen  _ The Lion King.  _

About fifteen minutes into the movie, Peter reached over and turned up the volume. 

Ned looked up, but didn’t say anything until Peter turned to MJ. 

“Tony made the watch,” Peter began, voice blending in with the movie. 

Michelle nodded, waiting for him to continue. 

“It tracks my heart rate and location and records everything I say if something goes wrong or whatever.” Peter glanced back at where he had stuck it under a pillow, a sour look on his face. 

“Why do you take it off?” Michelle prompted, knowing that was what Peter wanted to get off his chest. 

The boy shrugged. “He’s not my dad.” He thought a moment before adding. “I didn’t ask for this.” Satisfied, Peter returned the movie to normal volume and picked up his notebook to add to his growing number of highlighted terms. 

Before they left for the day, Peter fished the device out from Ned’s pillow and strapped it back on. The man who came to pick Peter up, Mr. Hogan, MJ learned, glowered at the boy as they exited the front lobby of Ned’s apartment. 

Peter looked on defiantly, clearly used to this man’s anger at his intentional transgressions. 

Michelle wasn’t. “He’s just a kid you know,” she called from the steps. 

The bodyguard focused his glare on her. 

“We’re teenagers. We aren’t complicit in our own lives anymore. If we want independence, we’ll get it.” With that, she turned away towards the nearest subway entrance to take her to her own apartment. She felt their eyes on her as she went, but refused to give either the satisfaction of turning around.

Peter came to school with the watch off more often after that. 

MJ and Ned were instructed by Mr. Hogan about Peter’s safety one afternoon. The session ended with his number programmed into their phones, along with Tony Stark’s and the soon to be May Stark’s. 

About a week later, after AcaDec practice, Peter asked MJ to wait for a minute after everyone else had left. He dug into his backpack and pulled out a bent envelope. He scratched the back of his head. “I already gave Ned his. Um, obviously you don’t have to come but…” He shrugged. “It will suck less if you do.” 

He had given her a wedding invitation. Which meant in two weeks, during the couple’s honeymoon, their relationship would be announced. It wouldn’t be long until Peter’s identity was drudged up too. 

She pulled him into an awkward hug before they both pulled away. 

“Let’s never do that again,” MJ suggested. 

Peter nodded. “I’ll leave the hugging to Ned.”

“Agreed.” 

Unfortunately, Peter’s identity didn’t make it to the wedding. 

A couple days before, while Ned was visiting his grandparents in New Jersey, Peter and Michelle were eating lunch at a cafe near her apartment. His phone had been going off for the better part of the day, so he had turned it off. When MJ started getting calls from Mr. Hogan too, she blocked him. They were chatting excitedly about the trip to Europe that Mr. Harrington had announced when two men entered. Michelle, who had her back to them, didn’t notice anything was wrong until she heard a string of gunshots explode behind her. 

“Nobody move!” the taller man shouted. 

Immediately, she slid under the table covering her head. She'd had enough active shooter drills at Midtown to know what to do. Failing to see Peter under there with her, she turned to see her friend approaching the gunmen. 

Peter answered calmly, “Hey man, why don’t-” A crack and then MJ watched as Peter crumbled to the floor. There was blood trickling from the back of his head where moments before the taller assailant had struck him. He was unconscious, breathing shallowly. And she couldn't rush forward to stop the bleeding or check his pulse because the shorter robber had a gun pointed at her suddenly. 

"Now have I made myself clear?" the taller man bellowed, sweeping his eyes around the coffee shop. "No one moves." Several other patrons nodded in fear. The woman at the counter, whose hands were raised despite the gunmen no longer paying her any mind, sniffled, but refused to wipe her eyes. 

Michelle locked her attention on the watch on Peter's wrist. Aside from linking to Peter’s security, the device would alert Peter's step-father the moment something went wrong. Help, in the form of the NYPD, Peter's security, and probably the marines, would come even faster if someone just held down on the side button. 

Michelle looked to the woman behind the counter, frozen in place. From the look on her face, the girl either didn’t have a discrete way, or hadn’t yet alerted the police to the situation. Mr. Stark's team would probably respond first. 

The shorter man motioned his gun at MJ. “Get up,” he grunted. She did as told, slowly moving out from under the table, and towards Peter. She watched the other patrons cowering at their own tables, everyone, including herself, was crying. “What did he want?” the robber demanded. 

Michelle shook her head, stumbling onto her knees next to Peter. Inches from help. “I don’t know. He- he thinks he’s tough. I don’t know.” Peter was breathing. Hopefully, he just had a concussion and a nasty bruise and they could walk away from this. 

The taller man considered. “He’s an idiot,” he decided, looking at his counterpart. MJ nodded emphatically. “Alright.” The assailant turned his attention to the woman behind the register. “Open it up,” he commanded. 

She quickly complied, reaching in before the man barked, “Don’t touch anything. No tripping any alarms.”

With the attention off Michelle, she took Peter’s wrist in her own and pressed down on the button. It buzzed once in recognition. Now she only had to survive until help arrived. 

The men joined the employee behind the counter and pulled out the money. 

Why two men so well armed were robbing such a low stakes location was beyond MJ. Until the tall man pointed his gun at her. “Wake the boy up,” he instructed. 

She stared at him. 

“Wake him up!” the man screamed, startling her into action. 

“Peter. Peter, wake up.” She shook him until Peter’s eyes started twitching and he jolted awake. He looked at her in fear, wincing in pain. She helped him sit up, still watching the two criminals. They crossed back into the main restaurant. At the register, the girl finally flipped the switch, alerting the police to the robbery. 

The short man pulled Peter onto his feet and started marching him towards their car. “Come on, Stark,” he goaded. The tall robber pointed his weapon at the others as they exited. 

Peter blearily looked back at Michelle, pressing his watch button in vain as a SWAT team poured into the cafe. Surprised, the pair was quickly overwhelmed and MJ rushed to Peter. 

From the opposite direction, Mr. Hogan came barreling in. Both reached Peter at the same time. 

“You’re really trying to give me a heart attack, kid,” the bodyguard muttered. 

“It’s not his fault.”

Mr. Hogan regarded Michelle momentarily before kneeling down to where Peter had fallen. “Going to the hospital kid. Your aunt’s already there, lucky you.”

“She’s gonna kill me,” Peter slurred.

Mr. Hogan barked out a laugh. “Yeah, well it wouldn’t take much right now.”

A pair of EMTs appeared behind Mr. Hogan and started to lift Peter onto the stretcher. They were followed by Mr. Stark himself. 

“Kid alright, Hap?” he asked. 

Mr. Hogan nodded. “He’ll be fine.”

Mr. Stark faced her. “You’re the one the clicked the button?” he asked. 

She nodded. 

“Good. Peter could’ve been halfway the China without hitting it himself.” He sighed. “Not sure why he hates me.” 

Michelle watched the stretcher get lifted into the back on a private ambulance. “He didn't ask for this,” she echoed, before adding, "He just wants to be a normal kid."

Mr. Stark regarded her for a long moment before joining Peter in the ambulance. 

When Peter came back to school, he was wearing the watch and a small smile. 


End file.
